‘No Plan B’ for T-Mobile

LONDON — Deutsche Telekom of Germany still faces long-term problems with its American subsidiary, T-Mobile USA, after the proposed $39 billion takeover by AT&T was scrapped on Monday.

Deutsche Telekom’s chief executive, René Obermann, said on Tuesday that T-Mobile, the fourth-largest mobile phone carrier in the United States, needed additional investment. But the failure of the deal with AT&T gives the company some breathing room in the short term. Under the terms of the deal announced in March, AT&T will pay a break-up fee to Deutsche Telekom that includes $3 billion in cash and wireless spectrum.

“With the spectrum we’re getting, we have a better chance of expanding the network in many markets,” Mr. Obermann said during a conference call with reporters. “That is not a final solution. In the long term, we need more spectrum and network capacity. We are working on that.”

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Mr. Obermann declined to give specifics on the next steps for its American business. T-Mobile needs to make large investments in its mobile phone infrastructure to keep up with consumers’ growing use of data packages on their smartphones.

Deutsche Telekom now plans to review its options, but has not set a deadline for deciding the future of T-Mobile USA, said a company spokesman, Andreas Fuchs.

“There’s no Plan B,” Mr. Fuchs said. “We’re back at the starting point.”